I am really enjoying the new reality show called "Below Deck Sailing Yacht" that just started on Bravo. It has all the familiar shenanigans of a reality show plus sailing! You know. Work conflicts. Messy hook ups. Nasty guests. Big tips. A shit storm of the first mark.
Unlike the original yachting shows where they are on motor yachts these mooks actually have to know how to sail. Now it looks like only the Captain and the engineer have a clue how to do it but it is still fascinating to me. Add in the beautiful scenery of the Greek Islands and I am hooked.
The part of the show that really intrigues me is the Chef having to cook for a bunch of pains in the ass who all have special requirements. I do that shit every day. I have to cook gluten free for the wife and extremely bland for the mother-in-law. When you do vegan or gluten free you want to put in a lot of flavor. Spices are gluten free and can help to make a dish tasty when you are not adding a bunch of butter or cheese or salt. Oh did I mention that I am not supposed to have a lot of butter, cheese and salt because of my bum ticker. Still and all I find a way.
Sunday night I divided it up. I make chicken legs for the mom. I simply rolled the legs in paste of garlic and parsley and cooked it over a bed of lemon and tarragon leaves. The mom hates rosemary so I had to find other herbs to work with. I poured the juice of four lemons to make a sauce when I added a little water to the mix. This is what it looked like before it went in:
I put it in the oven at 200 because we had to go to church. It cooked for an hour just to warm it up. When I can back I cooked it at 350 for another 45 minutes and broiled it for an additional 15. It came out so good that mom ate four of them at a sitting. She was like fucking Henry the Eight or something like dat there.
When it came to the gluten free section I made black beans and rice. I sauteed some onion and three types of peppers. Red, yellow and orange. Once that was good and cooked I added two cans of beans. Cumin, cayenne pepper and some chicken stock. Cooked it down until it looked like this:
I grilled a couple of chicken breasts with lemon and rosemary for the wife and she had it with a plate of rice and black beans. It was totally gluten free and delicious.
I was satisfied with just a plate of rice and beans:
Now this is a Trooper sized plate. That's why I am a fat fuck. I didn't need no stinkin' chicken. The poor peoples food is good enough for me.
The chef on this boat could of come up with some dishes like this. In fact he did and handled this with out much fuss even though he likes to complain. You know what?
He sounds just like me.
7 comments:
OMG that is four star level cooking! If I substituted for your Mom-In-Law I'd clean my plate and make my bed too. Jus' say'n.
Okay, I just looked at that teaser. It takes real talent to turn paradise into hell but I guess some people must have DRAYMA.
Still and all I find a way.
The Story of Mankind.
At least before Socialism.
Sailing:
My wife's father and uncles were pleasure boat sailors in Holland. Mostly on the IJmeer (There's a reason why both the I and J are capitalized). The sailing tradition carried over to the daughters who grew up sailing off the coast of Southern California. So naturally, much was expected of the dochters.
Fast forward to 1991 (or rewind according to your time frame). I'm on a sailboat in the IJmeer off Amsterdam (I wrote about an island here) with a Dutch uncle-in-law and he expects us the land his boat as he pulls in to dock. Of course we blew it and we had to make a second pass.
I've been getting into deep fried fish lately. Anybody got a kickass batter recipe?
2013? Goodness gracious!
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